Birthing gloove

ABSTRACT

A birthing glove exposes portions of the finger and thumb, which may be covered by a regular surgical glove. The birthing glove has a trank having an inner wall covering the palm and backhand of the birthing practitioner. Four finger sleeves and a thumb sleeve extend from the trank and terminate over the first phalanx of each finger. A cuff extends from the trank for covering at least a portion of the practitioner&#39;s forearm and an inflatable bladder is disposed over the inner wall of the trank adjacent to the back of the hand for inflation in order to expand behind the exposed fingers and thumb of the practitioner in order to dilate the birth canal and provide access to the head of the infant.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/196,255 filed Jul. 17, 2002, incorporated herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to birthing gloves. More particularly, the present invention relates to a birthing gloves which facilitate passage of an infant through a birthing canal.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A current practice by obstetricians is to utilize obstetric forceps for grasping a baby's head during childbirth. Generally, obstetric forceps have metal elements which are used to grasp a baby's head and assist in the birth by pulling on the forceps to extract the infant through the birth canal and out of the mother's body.

With obstetric forceps there is a risk of injury to a baby's head, the injury ranging from nerve damage to impression fractures of the skull caused by excessive pressure applied by the forceps to the infants head during delivery. The pressure on an infant's head is not adequately controllable because the obstetrician must rely on finger sensitivity which is displaced from the baby by the length of the forceps. If the obstetrician is strong or inexperienced excess forceps pressure may occur.

Moreover, obstetric forceps have a particular shape whereas baby's heads have different shapes so that situations arise where pressure is applied at inappropriate locations on the infant's head at excessive levels. Clearly, forceps tend to isolate from an obstetrician or other birthing practitioner from the infant being delivered.

In view of these considerations there is a need for an approach to birth canal obstetrics which does not rely on forceps.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A birthing glove exposing portions of the fingers and the thumb of a birthing practitioner, comprises a trank having an inner wall covering the palm and back of a hand of the practitioner and four finger sleeves and a thumb sleeve extending from the trank. The sleeves have open ends that terminate in front of the third phalanx of each finger and the second phalanx of the thumb of the practitioner. A cuff extends from the trank for covering at least a portion of the practitioner's arm and a bladder is disposed at least over the inner wall of the trank adjacent to the back of the metacarpals and carpals of the hand for inflation to expand behind the fingers and thumb of the practitioner so as to widen the birth canal.

In a first aspect of the birthing glove the open ends of the finger and thumb sleeves terminate in seals.

In still a further aspect of the invention, the sleeves have a length which extends over only a portion of the first phalanges of the fingers and the thumb.

In still a further aspect of the birthing glove, a bladder extends only over the back side of the metacarpal with no sufficient over the palm of the hand to allow flexibility of the metacarpus when the hand is inserted through the birth canal.

In a further aspect of the invention the birthing glove is used in combination with a thin close fitting surgical glove which covers the entire hand including all of the fingers and thumb of the practitioner to hygienically isolate the practitioners hand from the infant and mother.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various other features and attendant advantages of the present invention will be more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an infant being grasped by a birthing practitioner's hand extended through the birth canal utilizing the birthing glove of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view partially in elevation of the birthing glove shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the birthing glove of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a back view of the birthing glove of FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 5 is an elevation through the birthing glove taken along lines 5-5 of FIGS. 3 and 4, and

FIG. 6 is an elevational view taken along lines 6-6 of FIGS. 3 and 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a birthing glove 10 configured in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The birthing glove 10 covers the hand 11 and a substantial portion of a forearm 12 of a birthing practitioner who may be an obstetrician or midwife.

As is evident in FIGS. 1 and 2 the four fingers 13, 14, 15 and 16 as well as the thumb 17 of the practitioners hand 11 are partially covered by sleeves 20, 21, 22, 23 and 25, respectively, leaving at least the fingertips 28 and thumb tip 29 uncovered by the birthing glove 10. Preferably, the open-ended sleeves 20-24 extend over only the first phalange (bone) of each of the fingers 13-16 and the thumb 17. Each of the open-ended sleeves 20-24 has an annular seal 30 thereon to seal against the fingers 13-16 and thumb 17 (see also FIGS. 3 and 4).

Preferably, the hand 11 of the birthing practitioner is completely enclosed by a relatively thin surgical glove 44 that completely encloses each of the fingers 13-16 and the thumb 17 so as to provide a hygienic relationship with respect to the infant 40 (FIG. 1) and the mother 42 (FIG. 1). By having only a thinned surgical glove 34, the patients' hand 11 is able to provide the practitioner with feel or tactile sense with respect to the head 44 of the infant 40. Moreover, this tactile sense enables the practitioner to control the amount of pressure applied by the hand 11 against the infant's head 44 and to detect just where on the infant's head finger and hand pressure is being applied.

As is apparent in FIG. 1, the birth canal 46 through which the practitioners' hand 11 extends has been widened by a bladder 50 which is integral with the trank 18 of the glove which covers the palm of the hand 11 and the back surface of the hand. The bladder 50 preferably extends back through a cuff portion 54 of the birthing glove 10 and surrounds a substantial portion of the birthing practitioners forearm 12. The bladder is connected to a source of air pressure 58 via a flexible tube 60. The force of air pressure 58 is preferably controlled by the practitioner's other hand in conjunction with visual observations by the birthing practitioner of the mother, medical monitors and tactual information from the practitioners' fingers 13-16 and thumb 17 as well as the practitioners' palm.

As is best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6 in combination with FIGS. 1 and 2, the bladder 54 is defined between an inner wall 62 and an outer wall 64. The inner wall 62 is adjacent the practitioners hand 11 and the outer wall abuts the surface of the birth canal 46, but extends outwardly from the birth canal to provide support for the practitioners forearm 12 when the practitioner's hand 11 is inserted through the birth canal.

The inner wall 62 of the bladder is preferably relatively stiff compared to the outer wall 64 so as to not unduly constrict the practitioner's forearm 12 while the outer wall is expanded against the wall of the birth canal 46 to widen the birth canal. Moreover, the bladder 54 does not extend over the palm of the practitioners hand 11 so as not to interfere with the flexibility of the palm and movement of the bones within the hand defining the metacarpus, which extend beyond the cuff portion 54 of the palm.

From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain the essential characteristics of this invention, and without departing form the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. 

1. A birthing glove exposing portions of the fingers and the thumb of a birthing practitioner; the birthing glove comprising: a trank having an inner wall converging the palm and back of the hand of the practitioner; four finger sleeves and a thumb sleeve extending from the trank, the sleeves having open ends that terminate in front of the third phalanx of each finger the second phalanx of the thumb of the practitioner; a cuff extending from the trank for converging at least a portion of the practitioners arm, and an inflatable bladder disposed over the inner wall of the trank adjacent to the back of the hand for inflation to expand behind the fingers and thumb of the practitioner for widening the birth canal upon inflation.
 2. The birthing glove of claim 1 wherein the open ends of the finger and thumb sleeves terminate in seals.
 3. The birthing glove of claim 2 wherein the sleeves have a length which extends over only a portion the first phalanges of the fingers and the thumb.
 4. The birthing glove of claim 3 wherein the bladder extends only over the back side of the metacarpus of the hand with no sufficient extent over the palm of the hand to allow flexibility of the metacarpus when the hand is inserted into the birth canal.
 5. The birthing glove of claim 4 in combination with a thin surgical glove which encloses the fingers and thumb entirely and projects thereon past the birthing glove.
 6. The birthing glove of claim 1 in combination with a thin surgical glove which encloses the fingers and thumb entirely and projects thereon past the birthing glove.
 7. The birthing glove of claim 2 in combination with a thin surgical glove which encloses the fingers and thumb entirely and projects thereon past the birthing glove.
 8. The birthing glove of claim 3 in combination with a thin surgical glove which encloses the fingers and thumb entirely and projects thereon past the birthing glove. 